New 08M2+ (08M2 PLUS) chip
- Thread starter Willie...
- Start date
erco
Senior Member
The website hasn't been updated in a while, the 08M2+ has been the replacement part for several years. IIRC the 08M2 debuted in 2011. @Willie I see you have 4 posts, and you joined the forum in September. There's an excellent chance that any new 08M2 chips you have purchased in the last 3 years are 08M2+ types. Occasionally you may find the older chips on Ebay or clearance. It's easy to tell, they are marked as such.
IIRC they only started marking them with PICAXE numbers ~2011 when the M2 series appeared. Before that it was a PIC chip number.
PE5 makes no distinction about the + designator when checking the firmware version, perhaps PE6 does.
IIRC they only started marking them with PICAXE numbers ~2011 when the M2 series appeared. Before that it was a PIC chip number.
PE5 makes no distinction about the + designator when checking the firmware version, perhaps PE6 does.
Oh boy... do I feel silly, now!! 
I just went and looked at the chips I already have... and sure enough, "08M2+" is clearly stamped on all 4 of them.
I'll put on the Dunce cap, and sit in the corner for a while.
Thanks, erco.
BTW, yes, I am not very active on the Forum, but I already have a few PICaxe projects under my belt. I love these chips! Programming them in BASIC is a HUGE plus for me, as I have been using dialects of that language since the 1970's!
I just went and looked at the chips I already have... and sure enough, "08M2+" is clearly stamped on all 4 of them.
I'll put on the Dunce cap, and sit in the corner for a while.
Thanks, erco.
BTW, yes, I am not very active on the Forum, but I already have a few PICaxe projects under my belt. I love these chips! Programming them in BASIC is a HUGE plus for me, as I have been using dialects of that language since the 1970's!
westaust55
Moderator
I am not aware if there was ever a straight "08M2" (such as there was initially with the 18M2 which was later upgraded to the 18M2+)
To some extent the "+" could be seen as superfluous these days. For the 8pin parts the 08M2+ did differentiate from the 08M2LE available some years ago which had some of the M2 features but retained the 256 byte programming space of the earlier 08M parts - the LE variants was intended for educational institutions ( maybe as "L" for "limited" and "E" for education).
To some extent the "+" could be seen as superfluous these days. For the 8pin parts the 08M2+ did differentiate from the 08M2LE available some years ago which had some of the M2 features but retained the 256 byte programming space of the earlier 08M parts - the LE variants was intended for educational institutions ( maybe as "L" for "limited" and "E" for education).
Last edited:
We developed and were about to launch an 8-pin M2 just as Microchip announced a better chip in their 8-pin range. The ones we held in stock had "08M2" laser etched upon them and became known as the 08M2LE. The new chip became the 08M2 with "08M2+" etched on them.
It was the best pragmatic solution to differentiating the parts and the potential confusion was limited as the 08M2LE were, I believe, sold only into UK schools as part of our 'project board + chip' combo and those without educational accounts would have always received an "08M2+".
I recall the LE stood for Lite Edition and I understand that we cleared stock of the 08M2LE so everyone will have received "08M2+" devices in recent times when they purchased an 8-pin PICAXE.
It was the best pragmatic solution to differentiating the parts and the potential confusion was limited as the 08M2LE were, I believe, sold only into UK schools as part of our 'project board + chip' combo and those without educational accounts would have always received an "08M2+".
I recall the LE stood for Lite Edition and I understand that we cleared stock of the 08M2LE so everyone will have received "08M2+" devices in recent times when they purchased an 8-pin PICAXE.
As the venerable 8 bit PIC12F1840 micro is apparently the 08M2 engine, a feature check may be worthwhile. Data sheet diehards should see Microchip's 12F1840 resource,which runs to almost 400 pages! Stan.
kranenborg
Senior Member
Interestingly, the earlier PICAXE versions before the M2 and X2 updates each were very different, and the 8-pin counterpart much limited as compared to its, say, 20-pins counterpart. That is not the case anymore. I fully second manuka's suggestions to take a deep dive into the Microchip datasheets that come with the 8-pin device, as they are such powerful devices despite their size.
Best regards,
Jurjen
http://www.kranenborg.org/electronics
Best regards,
Jurjen
http://www.kranenborg.org/electronics
That was an unfortunate consequence of history, we were tied to what capabilities Microchip provided for different sized parts at the time. The PICAXE range and capabilities grew as new devices were introduced but we could not provide the same capabilities on other sized chips until parts existed which had those capabilities. Microchip would often add something to their larger sized parts but not always add the same to their smaller parts.
These days most chips are fairly similar, particularly having larger memories than in the past, so we were able to create the M2 and X2 range with a lot of commonality in features and capabilities.
It's not always entirely perfect, mostly because of the way PICAXE presents its pins in a more logical order for our users than Microchip do, and smaller parts tend to still have less memory than larger parts, but it's pretty close.
I loved the 08 range but the 18X was my favourite; a joy to tinker with to get it to do things through PEEK and POKE which were not supported by PICAXE Basic. These days it's far harder to have a favourite. I still have a soft spot for the 08M2 but it would probably be the 20X2 because it's a good size of chip, has 64MHz speed, background receive, and scratchpad memory which comes in handy for some things.
08M, 08M2, and 20X2 are the only PICAXE I've ever worked with...they're my "go-to" chips!
I have a 40x2 I guess I should power-up one of these days...I bought it on a whim, but just love the size of the 8 and 20 pin devices...
I even built a prototyping PCB that I can swap 8 and 20 pin chips onto...
I have a 40x2 I guess I should power-up one of these days...I bought it on a whim, but just love the size of the 8 and 20 pin devices...
I even built a prototyping PCB that I can swap 8 and 20 pin chips onto...
kranenborg
Senior Member
The use of PEEKSFR / POKESFR commands in order to enable some features in an M2 device not supported by Picaxe BASIC is still relevant: One can enable the full feature set of the comparator (even in combination with the SR-latch) in any M2-device, even the 08M2 which has one comparator. This I have used on a 08M2 for implementing a fast spike detector with noise canceler - using only M2-internal modules: see http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?21422&p=207723&viewfull=1#post207723 for its implementation
/Jurjen
www.kranenborg.org/electronics
/Jurjen
www.kranenborg.org/electronics
Any chance to see a 28X2+ (or X3 ?) appearing, based on the new PIC18F46K22, which got twice the amount of memory that the current 28X2 part (PIC18F45K22) got ?
Such things as the ability to upload (in the supplementary 32Kb of Flash) C-compiled BASIC functions (or simply C compiled or even assembly code that would be callable via a BASIC CALL function) would turn the PICAXE 28X2 into quite a polymorphic beast for all hobbyist (and not just for educational purposes)...
Such things as the ability to upload (in the supplementary 32Kb of Flash) C-compiled BASIC functions (or simply C compiled or even assembly code that would be callable via a BASIC CALL function) would turn the PICAXE 28X2 into quite a polymorphic beast for all hobbyist (and not just for educational purposes)...
inglewoodpete
Senior Member
Rev-Ed seem to have quietly dropped the "Beta" tag on PE6 in recent months. It has been my preferred development platform for a couple of years now.
The options available from some of Microchip's current and future product lines is exciting to say the least. 1K of EEPROM, 4K or RAM, 32 or 64K of flash, 12-bit ADC, the list goes on.
I'd like to see the two UARTs in the 28- and 40-pin chips utilised - this is something that often forces me to use raw PICs over PICAXEs. It would probably require an overhaul of management of the scratchpad.
Sadly for me, I am not in Rev-Ed's bread-and-butter market, education, so I haven't got my hopes too high. I expect that we'll see M3s before X3s but we can all live in hope
.
darb1972
Senior Member
I'm not either and my guess is that most of the regulars on the forum are also in that same category. Wouldn't it be nice if they decided to expand a little further into the realm beyond the educational target. RevEd seemed to be recently clearing the 3V version of the 28X2, so who knows if that means something is on the horizon. I did hint at an X3 but that was met with silence.Sadly for me, I am not in Rev-Ed's bread-and-butter market, education, so I haven't got my hopes too high. I expect that we'll see M3s before X3s but we can all live in hope
You never know your luck Pete. Maybe you'll wake up early Christmas morning to a Santa like "Hippy" sprinkling X3 dust all through your workshop. Maybe sleep with one eye open mate.
Regards
Brad
I would not read anything into the Black Friday sale of 28X2-3V beyond their not being as popular as the 28X2 which works on 3V and 5V so some had ended up on the shelf going nowhere fast. I am not wanting to ruin Christmas but I wouldn't want anyone to think there's an M3 or X3 on the way and then be disappointed.
Jeremy Harris
Senior Member
I tend to use a fair few 08M2s, but really because I like splitting things down and using them as pre-processors. For example, I recently built a temperature logger where I had eight DS18B20 sensors and I wanted them all to measure at about the same time. Having each one connected to an 08M2, that was just polling the sensor, doing some simple math and transmitting serial data as 4 bytes of ASCII (sign, two significant digits and one decimal place) speeded things up a lot, as I get all 8 readings in little more than the time it takes to poll one DS18B20 (a bit under 1 second).
Had I used eight DS18B20s all connected to the same Picaxe, then I've have ended up with around 6 or 7 seconds of temperature acquisition delay, as each sensor was polled in turn.
The pre-processor approach also relieves the main Picaxe of a fair bit of math, as it's being fed with temperatures that are already converted to deg C. Often it's worth doing this even for a single, complex, sensor, as offloading calculations and providing easy to use data to the main Picaxe can often make the programming a lot easier to follow.
Had I used eight DS18B20s all connected to the same Picaxe, then I've have ended up with around 6 or 7 seconds of temperature acquisition delay, as each sensor was polled in turn.
The pre-processor approach also relieves the main Picaxe of a fair bit of math, as it's being fed with temperatures that are already converted to deg C. Often it's worth doing this even for a single, complex, sensor, as offloading calculations and providing easy to use data to the main Picaxe can often make the programming a lot easier to follow.